Top Android App: Pulse News Reader

Pulse News Reader will transform your otherwise lackluster RSS/news feeds into a colorful, interactive mosaic. It takes a very different approach than other classic RSS reader Android apps like NewsRob and NewsRoom.

After downloading, you’ll first want to add your preferred news sources. Tap Menu > Manage sources > and then the “+” button. There, you can browse by category, search, or add one of the featured sources. If you use Google Reader as your primary RSS manager, you can easily import your feeds here as well. Another very cool feature is the ability to use Bump to share feeds with another smartphone user (Android and iPhone supported). Once you have added all of your sources, you can rearrange them in any order that you like.

Within the article view, you’ll notice that the functional UI continues, which allows for speedy navigation as well as easy sharing via Facebook, Twitter, email, or SMS. Tap on the article to bring up the navigational slider, options to toggle between text/web views, and a button to return to the home dashboard. Tap again to hide the UI navigation.

Lastly, to really customize this app you can adjust the font sizes, choose whether you want background updates (and if so, their frequency), and sign-in to Facebook for account integration.

Pros:

Elegant, functional user-interface

Homescreen widgets (small & large)

Integration with Facebook, Twitter, and Bump

Areas for improvement:

Option to disable transition effects to minimize possible lag

Full Google Reader synchronization (not just import)

Ability to hide read articles, mark articles for later, etc.

Limit of 20 feeds may be restricting for some users

Conclusion: Pulse News Reader is an extremely polished RSS Android app that is sure to impress. However, users who rely heavily on many RSS/news sources may still prefer speedier, text-based RSS app options.